


Bake My Day

by Auddieliz09



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: 2020 Thiam pride exchange, Alternate Universe - Bakery, Liam is a baker, M/M, Theo is an art teacher
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:08:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24991309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Auddieliz09/pseuds/Auddieliz09
Summary: Liam, cake decorator extraordinaire, is annoyed by the guy who keeps coming into the bakery to gawk at the cakes but never leaves with anything.Theo is just a huge fan of his work.
Relationships: Background Danny/Isaac, Background Morey - Relationship, Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 23
Kudos: 86





	Bake My Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Skaboom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skaboom/gifts).



> For Emily! Happy Pride!

Liam rolls out of bed at 5 am, actually ready to get the day started. He powers through his shower and morning coffee and toast before climbing into his Bronco and heading to work. He pulls in behind the bakery and leaves his car with a spring in his step.

Glazed & Confused is the coolest place Liam could’ve gotten a job at and he loves the ridiculous tie-dye, 70’s decor. The entire place is a homage to his boss’ favorite movie. Something about it being the one that happened to be playing in the background when they first met at a party or something. Anyway, it’s bright and a little tacky and he just loves the Free Love vibe of it all.

“Hey, little buddy!” Isaac calls out from where he’s kneading dough when he sees Liam come through the employee entrance. “You’re looking chipper.” He frowns. “Why do you look chipper? Did you run over Mrs. Jenkins on the way to work or something?”

Okay, so maybe he’s usually really freaking grouchy in the morning and maybe only the demise of the ancient demon lady who lives in the apartment below him would be about the only thing to make him remotely happy at the asscrack of dawn. But today’s going to be a good day, so he’s allowed to be fucking chipper, damnit.

“Shut up. You of all people should know why I’m actually happy to be awake right now.” At Isaac’s blank look, Liam rolls his eyes. “Dude. It’s June.” 

Honestly, the man has a husband. He should be just as excited as Liam.

“Oh! Hell yeah, it is! Danny’s actually out front putting out the Pride merch. We ordered twice as many with the design you made last year since they sold so well.” Isaac plops the dough into a greased bowl and starts measuring out flour for the next batch while the first one rises. “You’re ready to start decorating fun stuff, huh?”

“You’re damn right I am!” Liam beams at him.

“Well then get to work.” Isaac flicks flour at Liam’s face.

Liam huffs and wipes off his face before grabbing an apron to wear. He washes up and gets started on the batter for his first cake of the day right as Mason bursts through the door.

“Sorry, I’m late!”

“I was wondering where you were. Liam never makes it in before you.” Isaac raises an eyebrow at the man hustling to get his own apron on.

Liam smirks. “I’m sure he and Corey had to celebrate Pride before he could leave for work this morning.”

“Shut up, Liam,” Mason mutters as he checks the book for the day’s orders.

Liam snickers, knowing he’s correct. Corey definitely kept Mason in bed this morning instead of letting him get up to go to work on time.

Danny makes his way back into the kitchens, pausing to kiss Isaac on the cheek before heading to his station to start making his pastries. The men work and talk about nothing in particular. Danny tells his husband to remind him to place the order for supplies before they leave that night. Isaac tells Mason to remind him to remind his husband to order supplies. They all get a laugh out of it.

Before he knows it, it’s almost time to open the bakery and Liam has layers for two cakes on cooling racks and three more in the oven for a third. Isaac is lining up loaves of bread onto the display rack. Danny is spreading out his pastries in the display cabinet under the front counter. Mason has two dozen cupcakes cooling on his rack and is whipping up cream for the topping while another cake bakes in his oven.

Hayden and Gwen come in through the employee entrance to start their shifts behind the counter selling their treats to the public. There’s already a short line at the door when Gwen unlocks it at exactly 7 AM. Regulars who know exactly what they want and leave as quickly as they come or sit at one of the small tables to chat while they enjoy their breakfasts.

Liam is ready to start making frosting for his cakes. He wants to make his favorite brown sugar recipe for the first cake but he can’t find the brown sugar anywhere. Finally, he sees it on the top shelf. “Damnit, Isaac!”

“What’d I do?”

“How am I supposed to make the brown sugar frosting you love so much if you keep putting the brown sugar on the top shelf where I can’t reach it?”

Isaac snickers. “I can still order you that step stool.”

“Fuck. You.” Liam crosses his arms. “I will climb on your precious counters if you don’t get it down.”

“You’re no fun.” Isaac sighs dramatically and reaches up to grab the brown sugar and hands it to Liam. “On a more serious note, I’ve actually been thinking about ordering new shelves to put around your station so that things like this will be easier for you to find.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, little buddy. It isn’t actually fair that you can’t access quite a few things in the kitchen without help. I know I tease, but I really do want you to be comfortable and accommodated here.”

Liam smiles at him. “Thanks, man. I would appreciate some new shelves.”

“I see about ordering them, then.”

Liam thanks him again and turns back to his station. He whips up his ingredients for his frosting and separates it into smaller bowls to mix with food dye. In the spirit of Pride, this first cake will be rainbow-colored. He’s hoping to have a full set out with different pride colors before lunch so that folks can see them and hopefully buy/order them for parties and celebrations.

In the afternoon, he’s helping Mason make a four-tiered wedding cake for a couple of ladies who have been together for twenty-six years and are finally ready and able to tie the knot. Liam’s absolutely stoked to be able to contribute to their big day and he doesn’t want to be worrying about his Pride cakes while he’s working on it.

While he works, he occasionally pokes his head out when a regular comes in to greet them and talk about what he’s doing. Everyone is excited to see what he comes up with. His Pride cakes had been a hit the year before and Liam can’t wait to put out more.

Each cake has three nine-inch round vanilla layers and is filled and frosted with his (okay, his Nana’s) brown sugar frosting. The frosting is a little more complicated to make and work with, but it’s worth it to see and hear the reactions of the customers who try it for the first time. Of course, anyone who orders a custom cake can request white, buttercream, whipped with whatever flavor cake they want, but the displays are Liam’s babies and he can make what he wants.

He starts decorating his first cake after pulling the layers for his cake out of the oven and replacing them with batter filled pans for a fourth. He decides to go for simple and dramatic. He uses a large, closed star tip piping nozzle to make large red swirls on the top of the cake. Then, using the same size nozzle, he makes thick ruffles around the side of the cake. First orange, then yellow, green, blue, purple in pretty layers all the way down. When he’s finished, he grins happily at the cake before placing it in the cooler to set.

He prepares more batter for a fifth cake before whipping up more frosting for his second cake. Years of practice and his own passion for his work keeps him moving like a well-oiled machine. He moves around his station, leveling layers, taking layers in and out of the oven, preparing his frosting, and decorating. Everything moving like clockwork. His fellow bakers know to keep out of his way while he’s in the zone and they leave him to his pet project.

By the time he’s finished with the sixth cake, his stomach is rumbling for sustenance and his mouth is begging for water, which makes sense because he’s about two hours past his usual lunchtime. But he’s remarkably pleased with his work. He calls in an order for some takeout from the cafe across the street, then pulls a bottle of water from the cooler and guzzles it down before going back to admire his work.

The Trans cake is decorated much like the Gay one with large swirls and ruffles in blue, pink, white, pink, and blue layers. He’d used the same nozzle for the alternating pink, yellow, and blue swirls on top of the Pan cake, but he’d used a round tip to make the layers on the sides of the cake, giving it a ripple effect. He loves the Ace cake with its black, purple, and grey icing blending smoothly from bottom to top. He’d topped the cake with a ring of white ruffles and a large purple swirl, dotted with white candy pearls. His Bi cake makes him grin every time he sees it. It’s simple with pink, purple, and blue layers and swirls on top like the Pan one, but he’d decided to have some fun and use some pink icing on top to give it a drip effect down the sides. And maybe he was thinking about the couple he’s going to make the wedding cake for that afternoon, but he’d taken extra care with the Lesbian cake. The orange, white, and pink layers were blended beautifully, but instead of just making swirls he’d decided to decorate the top with orange, white, and pink roses in a pretty arc to one side, complete with bright green leaves and some white candy pearls. 

His feet hurt and his back is stiff and his wrists ache but goddamn he’s proud. So it’s all worth it.

“Are you done feeding your ego yet?” Mason comes up to stand beside him. “Because you need to feed your body, now. Here.” He hands Liam another bottle of water. “I’ll put these in the display. Go get your food before you collapse.”

Liam smiles wryly at his best friend and takes the bottle. “Thanks, mom.”

“Please. If I were your mother, I wouldn’t have tolerated hyper-focused, android Liam and would've made you take at least one break. But she is much scarier than I am, so." Mason shrugs and shoves his hands in his pockets. "Have you taken pictures yet?"

"Nope. That was next on my list."

"I'll do that, too, then. Seriously, Liam. Go eat and relax for a few. I'm tired just looking at you."

Liam sighs dramatically. "Fine!" He pulls his best friend into a quick hug. "For real though, thanks for looking out, Mase. Love you."

“Love you, too, buddy. Get out of here.”

Liam listens and makes his way across the street to Coyote Cafe to pick up his french dip with fries and a strawberry lemonade and chat with the owner, Malia, for a while. She’s a no-nonsense, hardass woman with a heart of gold and the sweetest wife Liam has ever met. Her love of strawberry shortcake bemuses Liam to this day. Such a sweet and light treat for such a badass lady. They talk about Kira’s latest batch of students graduating to brown belts at her dojo and how Malia’s niece is one of them while she bags up his order.

Once he’s back at the bakery, he sits at one of the little bistro tables and eats slowly as to not upset his stomach more by forcing too much down too fast. Danny takes a break and joins him.

“Glad to see you back to reality, Liam. Missed you there for the last couple of hours,” his boss smirks.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve already been reprimanded by Mason, thanks.” Liam takes a bite and washes it down with his strawberry lemonade.

“I know. It’s just a little concerning, is all.” At Liam’s questioning look, Danny continues. “I mean, we’re kind of used to it, but when you get so focused that you go non-verbal for a few hours, we just like to know you’re actually okay, you know? I mean, we’re all running around and bantering and you’re in your own little zone doing your thing. It’s fascinating but sometimes a little worrisome.”

“Oh.” He hadn’t known the others besides Mason even notice when he clocks out to focus on his tasks. He honestly didn’t even know the others talk around him while he’s working like that. “Well, it’s really not something to worry about unless I’ve been at it for like six hours with no rest. I didn’t mean to worry anybody at all.”

“Hey, no, you’re fine. Mason explained it to us. ADHD, right? I’m really glad he’s been here to do so. You’re an amazing baker and a very talented artist and Isaac and I are thrilled to have you here. We don’t want you working too hard that it affects your mental  _ or  _ physical health, though.”

“Thanks, Danny. Really.” Liam smiles at him. “I promise I’m good. Mason would make you send me home if I weren’t. We’re lucky you decided to take us both on.”

“We’re definitely the ones with the better luck,” Danny assures him. “Alright, now that I know you’re good, I’ll leave you to your lunch. I’ve got to start on the apple filling for tomorrow’s turnovers anyway.”

Liam smiles at him and tucks back into his meal. When he's finished, he sits back for the remainder of his hour to people watch. Folks on the sidewalk passing by, many of them inhaling deeply as they pass. Kids practically plastering their faces to the window to look at the sweet treats their mothers usually don’t let them have. He watches customers file in and out of the building to buy loaves of bread and pick up cake orders. Some just come in to buy a sweet snack before heading back out. 

Liam’s favorite people, though, are the ones who admire the cake display. He’s proud of the work he and Mason do for their little bakery. And he’s especially proud of the attention his newest cakes are gathering. Mason has displayed them on the top shelf and added their photos to the small digital gallery that customers can flip through. All of his Pride cakes from last year are on there as well with numbers attached to them so that if someone wants a cake made in a certain style, they can fill out an order form.

He grins helplessly as he watches a woman stop outside the window and squints through it before turning on her heel to march inside. She gushes over the display and asks Gwen if they’re for sale or if they’d already been bought. She buys the Lesbian cake on the spot when Gwen tells her they’re all available. As Gwen boxes up the cake for the lady, she tells her that Liam is the one who designs the Pride cakes, and the lady’s excited chatter as she thanks him makes the early and exhausting morning worth it.

As the lady walks out with her cake, it catches the attention of another man who stops to look at it and then at the door to the bakery. With an unreadable expression, he walks inside and looks around before making his way to the cake display. Liam can help but notice how attractive the guy is with his broad shoulders and dark hair and light eyes. His face is sporting just the right amount of scruff and Liam thinks he’s a little in love.

Right until the guy makes a vaguely impressed face before nodding at Gwen and Hayden and walking right back out. Rude.

Liam sighs and picks up his trash, throwing it in the bin before joining Mason in the kitchen to begin making the wedding cake.

“Alright. I’ve already got the layers on the cooling racks; I baked them before you went to lunch. I was just about to start on the filling if you want to pull the fondant we made yesterday out of the cooler.” Liam follows his direction and does his tasks as their assigned to him. He rolls out the white fondant to lay over the bottom tier after Mason finishes leveling out the layers and spreading the filling between them. Together, they make sure the fondant lays smoothly over the cake and trim off any excess. They repeat the process with the next three tiers.

The cake is a two and a half feet tall blank slate that Liam is dying to bring to life. He and Liam had discussed what they wanted to do to decorate the cake as soon as the women had given them their wish. They wanted their story told on the cake and had given Mason a copy of the story that would be printed on a sign to go with it. They’d both gotten a little misty-eyed when they’d read it.

_ ~~27 years ago, a girl was walking through the park with a book in her hands intending to find a shady place to sit and read. She came across another girl with a dog that she couldn’t resist stopping to pet. The girls began to talk while she pets the dog. They sat down on a nearby bench and talked for hours. In mere hours, the girls were best friends. _

_ 26 years ago, the girls were walking in the park together and the girl who had had the book asked the girl who had had the dog if she would sit on the bench beside the place they had met the year before. “I love you,” she said. And the other girl loved her too. And on that bench in that park, they shared their first kiss. _

_ 1 year ago the woman who had been the girl who had had the book brought the woman who had been the girl who had had the dog back to the park. The bench was not the same one they had sat on when they met, when they first kissed. But this new bench was in the same place as the old. Beneath the same oak tree and the same sky. The woman asked the love of her life to sit on this new bench in this old place and she asked her, “Will you marry me?” The love of her life said yes. _

_ Today, these women share their story and their love with you in the park where they met and discovered that love.~~ _

Yeah, Liam wants this cake to be as beautiful as their story to make their day as perfect as possible. 

He rolls out black fondant until it’s super thin, then rolls wax paper over it. On the wax paper, he sketches out four scenes. Each scene has the tree and the bench. The first scene, for the bottom layer, has a girl with a book and a girl with a dog walking towards each other. The next scene as the girls sitting on the bench together, faces close as if they’re about to kiss. The third scene has one girl on her knee in front of the other, proposing. The final scene has them holding each other, both wearing long flowing dresses, one clutching a bouquet. 

Liam smiles happily at his work and looks up to see Mason putting his finishing touches on the cake. “Oh, wow, Mase. Those colors are amazing.” 

Mason smiles shyly. “Thanks.” He’d painted it with the airbrush, blending the colors beautifully to look like a sunrise. Blues and purples at the bottom, pink and soft red in the middle, orange and a pretty yellow at the top. All blending seamlessly to represent this new day, this new time in these women’s lives.

Mason helps Liam painstakingly cut out the images from the black fondant and place them against the colors. When they’re finished, it looks like silhouettes against the sky where their story only gets brighter as you move up, as they move closer together.

Liam almost gets misty again just looking at it. “Did they have a topper in mind?”

“Hmm.” Mason moves to pick up the order slip and check. “Doesn’t look like it. Why? What do you want to do?”

“Just some roses, I think. Nothing too complicated.” 

Liam grabs a tub of buttercream and marks it off the inventory list so Danny can keep track of what needs to be made. With practiced movements, he separates the frosting into seven bowls, mixing food coloring into them, then scoops the colors into piping bags fitted with petal tips. It only takes him about ten minutes to make six rainbow roses on top of the cake.

“There. God, I hope they love it as much as I do.” 

“Me, too,” Mason agrees and grabs for the base of the cake. “Alright, let’s get her in the cooler.” 

Liam clears the way for him as they make their way to the walk-in and Mason sets it down on one of the tables. “Any other orders you need help with?”

“There’s a birthday cake I haven’t gotten to yet and two dozen upsidedown pineapple cupcakes, but those are mine.” 

“Of course they are.” Liam laughs. Mason had introduced them to the bakery after all. No one can make them quite as amazing as he does. “I’ll tackle the birthday cake, then.”

“Funny you should use that phrase.” They walk back to the kitchen and Mason hands him the order slip.

“A football field cake. For Olivia’s eleventh birthday. You go, girl.” Liam grins.

The rest of the afternoon goes by quickly and this time Liam participates in the banter. He has fun decorating the cake for the little girl who loves football and hopes the girl will get a kick out of it. Mason doesn’t appreciate the pun as much as he does when he says it out loud. Rude.

By the time Liam makes it home, he’s pleasantly exhausted. He eats dinner, takes his shower, and goes to bed, ready to do it all again the next day.

***

The rest of the weeks goes well. His work runs smoothly and the customers love his Pride cakes. He’s got orders coming in every day for parties and celebrations. The parade is going to be on the second weekend of June and he can’t wait. Isaac and Danny consider it an official holiday and refuse to open the doors on the day.

He’s watching the counter during one of the slow hours while the girls are taking a break. Danny is upstairs doing paperwork. Isaac is installing the shelves he’d promised Liam and Mason is delivering cakes to a pair of twins that just turned seven. He checks the time on his phone, he’s still got about ten minutes until he needs to check the cake he has in the oven. It’s going to be a real beauty. Chocolate with chocolate buttercream frosting. He’s going to do a dark and white chocolate marble pour over it. It’ll be amazing, he already knows it.

The bell above the door rings and the hot guy from the beginning of the week comes in. Liam rolls his eyes as he watches him go to the cake display to check out the spread. It’s the fourth time he’s come in this week and he never buys anything. Just looks at the cakes like he’s never seen so many before or something and just walks back out. “Hey, are you ever going to buy something, or are you just going to gawk?”

The guy starts as if he hadn’t even seen Liam when he’d walked in. Seriously? He’s standing right there. Has been the whole time. 

“Oh! Hi. Yeah, I mean, I probably will someday. If there ever is an occasion that calls for a cake that size.” The guy grins at him contritely. 

His smile is… really pretty. Pretty distracting. Wait, no, it’s pretty… uh, it’s not that great. This guy and his perfect teeth and plump lips and trimmed scruff and eyes that won’t stay one color and… fuck. Okay, so he’s attractive. But he’s still a jerk who doesn’t bother to buy anything.

“Right.” The guy starts to turn and Liam realizes he was staring like a fucking loon. “I’ll just…”

“We make smaller cakes,” Liam blurts out and the guy turns back towards him. “And besides, what’s the point of being an adult if you can’t eat cake whenever you want without waiting for ‘an occasion’.”

The guy laughs and Liam’s chest does something stupid. He scowls but the guy just says, “I like that philosophy. I’ll keep that in mind.” This time he doesn’t pause as he heads for the door. “See you tomorrow!” He waves with a cheeky grin and walks out the door.

_ “See you tomorrow. Meh, meh, meh.”  _ Liam continues to scowl until Hayden walks in.

“Uh, you okay there, Liam?”

“Yeah.” He shakes his head to clear it. “Just. The guy who comes in to look at the cakes and then leaves came in while you were all gone.”

“I don’t see why you’re frowning so much. That guy is hot.”

Liam rolls his eyes. “And he never buys anything, which is annoying.”

Hayden rolls her eyes right back at him. “So? It’s like a free show every time he comes in. Who am I to question the will of the hot guy gods?”

Liam breaks, giggling. “Alright, you’ve got me there. Hot guy gods. I’ve gotta remember that.”

He makes his way back to the kitchen and sees that his shelves are mostly finished. “Those look great, Isaac!”

“Yeah? I hope they’ll work out for you.” He finishes putting in the last screws as Liam pulls his chocolate cake out of the oven to place on the cooling rack. “Something on your mind, little buddy?”

“Hmm, what?” Liam looks up into Isaac’s concerned blue eyes.

“I dunno, man. You were the one staring at your cake all pensive like.”

“Oh, well, I guess I was just wondering what orders we still have left to fill and if there was any time to do something small.”

“What do you want to do?”

“I dunno, maybe make a few of the mini cakes. Something for someone who just wants cake but doesn’t have a lot of people to eat it with.” 

“We do sell individual cupcakes,” Isaac points out.

“Yeah, I know. But we don’t do everything with cupcakes that we do with cakes. And besides, mini cakes last more than four bites.”

Isaac laughs. “This is true. Look, if you have some spare time and you want to make some mini cakes, I’m not going to stop you.”

Liam beams at him. “Thanks!”

***

Friday morning, Liam tries not to think about the reason why he’s making three small mini cakes first thing the next morning. One chocolate, one vanilla, one marble with the remaining batter from the first two. He tells himself he absolutely is not doing it just because the cute, annoying guy might like them enough to buy one if he actually makes smaller cakes to be bought upfront. He’s making them for anyone who might want to take cake home for dessert and doesn’t want to commit to an entire two or three-layer cake.

These mini cakes are two layers, but they’re only six inches wide and by the time he’s done with them, they’ll be so delicious looking, no one will be able to resist. Of course, that might mean they’re all gone before gawker guy gets there, but then Liam can tell himself he told him so. They’re for anybody.

He tops the chocolate with whipped cream frosting and airbrushes a wicked waterlily on the top of it and piping ribbon on the sides. The vanilla gets topped with strawberry buttercream, which he painstakingly pipes on with a star tip one little burst at a time. The marble cake gets his brown sugar frosting. Over the sides, he drips icing in three different shades of green, making it look almost radioactive. It’s awesome.

When he’s finished, he takes up orders from his pile, proud of how many Pride cakes are in it. Between cakes, he helps the others with cookies and brownies and any other small orders he can fill. He and his fellow bakers easily work around each other, making the day pass smoothly.

When Gwen’s brother-in-law calls her to tell her that her sister is having her baby, everyone tells her to go ahead and leave early. Liam agrees to take a late lunch so he can keep an eye on the counter while everyone takes their breaks. He ends up selling his first mini cake -the vanilla with strawberry buttercream- to a lady who is having lunch with her sisters.

“Honestly, I thought I was going to have to buy a half dozen cupcakes or one of those big cakes and make them take leftovers home, but this is perfect for the four of us! Thank you.” The lady is all smiles and when she leaves, Liam sends Isaac a satisfied smirk.

“Yeah, yeah. You told me so. We’ll see about having a few on display from now on, okay?”

“Fine by me.” Liam shrugs nonchalantly. 

Isaac just rolls his eyes and shuffles back to the kitchen.

Liam is polishing off his meatball calzone from the independent pizza shack a few blocks over when Hot Jerk walks in for his daily perusal. Dude actually has the audacity to smile at Liam when he sees him sitting at the corner table. He even waves with a little, “Oh, hey!”

Liam watches his back incredulously as he turns toward cake display. A snicker catches his attention and Liam glances over to see Hayden laughing at him. When she sees him looking at her she mimics the guy’s wave and mouths  _ Oh, hey! _

Liam hates her a little.

“You guys do really have smaller cakes. These are cute.” The guy holds up the green mini cake. “I might have to take one after all.” He smiles at Liam again. Okay, so maybe Liam can forgive him.

He watches silently as the guy walks to the counter with his cake and purchases it from Hayden who looks about two seconds away from leaning around his shoulder to waggle her eyebrows at Liam. He takes his bagged cake and turns to leave.

“See you later.” He waves at Liam again and right as he turns to the door a loud BOOM crashes around them making everyone jump. Outside the windows, the sky opens up and rain pours down in heavy sheets. “Or not.” He makes his way over to Liam's table and lifts his free hand to scratch the back of his neck. “Mind if I sit with you?”

Liam’s eyes catch on the bulging muscle of Hot Not-So-Jerk’s bicep and he almost misses the question. “Huh? Oh! Uh, sure. But only if you tell me why you usually come in here to just look at the cakes and then leave.”

He peels his eyes away from his arm and the smirk on the guy’s face is almost as distracting. “Yeah, I can do that.”

“Well, then, have a seat.” Liam motions graciously at the chair across from him.

“Thanks.” He sets the cake on the table and sits. The light above the table glinting on a little pin Liam hadn’t noticed on the collar of his black button-up. A little rainbow pride pin.

Liam smiles a little at seeing it, as one does when they identify a stranger as someone from the community. 

“Okay, so,” the guy starts, “I’m an artist, right? And I thought I realized all the different kinds of art out there, you know? The different mediums. Painting, drawing, sculpting, photography, tattoos. The list goes on. But I never really thought of food when I thought of art and that was clearly an error on my part because every one of those cakes is an amazing piece of art in its own right.” He shrugs. “I guess I always thought of art as something that lasts, but cakes get made and then eaten. I’ve been coming by to see the new works every day. It’s like going to a different museum every day.” He scratches the back of his neck again. “That probably sounds stupid, but I guess I just love what you guys do here.”

“That’s… wow. Thank you. I mean, those four years I took of art classes before culinary school probably mean that I am, in fact, an artist. But I’ve never had my work compared to a museum before.”

“Wait. You decorate the cakes?” His eyes get huge as he stares at Liam.

Liam chuckles. “Yeah, you didn’t realize that?”

“Nah. But I’m a huge fan of your work.” Not Jerk laughs.

“I mean, all of us contribute, but I guess if I had an ‘official job title’ I’d be Head Cake Decorator. It’s my favorite part of the job. Mason prefers cupcakes. Isaac loves making bread and no one can make pastry dough like Danny can, so we usually leave those up to him.”

“What about you?” The guy turns to ask Hayden, who looks up from her phone, startled. “Do you make any of the treats?”

“Oh, no.” Hayden shakes her head vehemently. “Gwen and I are in charge of making sure everything out here runs smoothly so that Liam and the other guys can do their magic back there. Besides, you don’t want me anywhere near an oven. I’m much better suited to eating baked goods than making them.”

“I gotcha.” Hot Guy grins and turns back to Liam. And, christ, does he have to be that perfect? Da Vinci himself would spend his life painting and sculpting just him if he were alive today.

“So, you really never thought of cake decorating as art, huh? Didn’t you watch The Hunger Games?”

“Ah, no. I thought about it, ‘cause that Peter dude was cute, but kids killing kids isn’t really my jam.”

“That is totally valid.” Liam taps his finger on the table, his mind going on a tangent on why society decided to glorify a series that shows kids killing kids, but then he remembers that that was actually the premise of the story and-

“Well, I mean-” the guy’s words interrupt Liam’s thoughts “-I’m an elementary school teacher and I can’t help but think about how hard it’s already going to be for my kids when they start growing up. I don’t really want to picture them in that setting, you know?”

“Oh, no I get that. I was just asking because  _ Peeta  _ -not Peter-,” Liam snickers, “was a baker and he used his cake decorating skills to make camouflage in the Games. And after they won, he became a painter. So, yeah, being an artist definitely helps with the decorating and vice versa.” Liam pauses, recalling what the guy had said. “Wait, you’re a teacher? I thought you said you were an artist.”

He laughs. “Well, I’m not talented or passionate enough for it to pay my bills. I’m content to be a hobby artist.”

“Ah, okay, that makes sense. So, what grade do you teach?”

“All of them. I’m the art teacher.” He grins and shoots Liam with a finger gun and winks. 

Ugh, just kill Liam now. He’s back to being a little in love with the dude.

“What are your favorite cakes to decorate?”

“The Pride cakes,” Liam answers immediately. “That collection is my baby.”

“Yeah?”

Liam’s pretty sure he’s asking for confirmation about more than his favorite project. “Yeah.”

Just then, a beam of light shines through the clouds and straight through the window, warming the side of Liam’s face and turning the guy’s right eye into some ethereal shade that Liam itches to recreate. He has to look away before he’s caught staring again. He turns his face toward the window and lets the sun warm his entire face. “That storm didn’t last long.”

The sound of a chair scraping across the floor catches his attention. He looks back to see the guy standing and reaching for his cake. "I, uh, guess that means I should get going." His face looks a little red. "My cat is probably wondering where the hell I am anyway. It was- it was great talking to you. I'll, ah, see you next week. Probably." He hustles to the door but waves to Liam as we walk out of it. "Bye!"

Liam blinks at the door, surprised at how abruptly everything had just happened. He looks at Hayden who appears as perplexed as he feels.

"Please tell me you got his number before that happened," she looks at him.

"God, I didn't even get his name!" Liam buries his face in his hands.

"Seriously?" Mason appears in the kitchen doorway. "I raised you better than this."

Liam huffs out a laugh. "Well, at least I'll probably see him next week."

"And you  _ will _ get his number." Mason points at him.

Hayden smiles pleasantly. "Or  _ I'll  _ get it for you."

"No need for drastic measures, guys. I'll ask, okay? Jeez."

***

The next day, Hayden slaps an order slip on Mason's counter. "Have fun with this one."

Liam watches as he reads over the slip and raises his eyebrows when Mason snorts.

"This guy wants a blue cake with just his phone number on it. And I know it's his phone number because it's the same he put for us to call when the order is finished."

"Wow." Liam also snorts. "Just a blue cake?"

"It says, 'Blue. One blue or all the blues, as long as it's blue.'" Mason shrugs. Easy enough. "It's one of your mini cakes. Maybe you should do it."

"I would if I didn't have eight Pride cakes lined up today."

"Fair. I'll finish up these strawberry shortcakes for Malia and get on it I guess while I wait for the Hale wedding layers to cool."

They talk while they work. Mason keeps the conversation easy and interesting enough to keep Liam in the present. After the breakfast rush, Danny starts taking out orders and Isaac fills in where he’s needed most. 

By the time Liam is finished with half of his orders and is ready to take his lunch, Mason has finished the blue phone number cake. “I’ll give the guy a call, let him know it’s ready.” Mason turns toward the phone. 

Liam watches and listens as he stabs at a tomato from his chef’s salad and pops it into his mouth.

“Hello, this is Mason from Glazed and Confused. The mini cake you ordered is ready for you to pick up. Oh. Well, sir, I’m sorry but it will probably take a couple of hours to be delivered- Pardon? You want me to- Oh, my god! Yes! Yes, I can absolutely do that. Yep, no problem, man. Yeah, you too. Uh-huh, bye.” Mason is grinning when he hangs up the phone. “He requested one minor alteration, but it’s no big deal.”

“And then what? Deliver it yourself?”

“Yep.”

“Don’t you have things to do this afternoon?” They all have things to do. Maybe Danny and Isaac should think about hiring an actual delivery person.

“This won’t be a problem, brother.”

“If you say so,” Liam mutters to his retreating back and digs back into his salad.

He’s poking at the dregs at the bottom when something is plopped onto the table in front of him.

“Uh…” He blinks at the bright blue mini monstrosity in front of him. “Is that-”

“The phone number cake?” Mason finishes for him. “Yes. Yes, it is. Slightly altered as one Mr. Theo Raeken requested.”

“I don’t-” He looks up at Mason to see him beaming. “Some random dude wants to give me his number via cake?”

“Dude, seriously? Can you not think of one guy who would want to give you his number?”

“No?”

“Not even a seriously built, super hot elementary art teacher?”

Liam freezes. Mason can’t be serious. “You can’t be serious.”

“As a freaking heart attack, son.” Mason nudges the cake toward Liam. “He asked me to ask you if you’d text him as soon as possible. So, I’m telling you. Text him. Right now. I am one hundred percent sure that the phone number is legit, so you don’t even have to worry about it being fake. Text. Him.”

“Shit. Okay, okay. His name is Theo? Does he look like a Theo? Maybe? I think I thought he looked more like a-”

“LIAM! Less talking. More texting.”

“Right!” Liam fumbles his phone out of his pocket and opens a new message. He carefully types the number as he sees it in Mason’s immaculate handwriting on the cake.

**To: Unknown**

**Hi, Theo? It’s Liam.**

Not even a minute later, there’s an answer.

**From: Unknown**

**Oh thank god. Hi Liam. I was seriously starting to think your friend might’ve trashed the cake or something.**

Liam laughs and saves the number in his phone.

**To: Theo**

**I might’ve had a moment where I didn’t realize what was happening, but he delivered the cake as directed.**

**Why go through all that though? Why not just give me your number in person?**

Liam watches the three dots blink as Theo types out a reply.

**From: Theo**

**Honestly? I panicked. I was sitting across from a really pretty guy and we were talking and having a good time and then a freaking heavenly beam of sunlight shines directly on his face and I realized that I was way out of my depth at that moment.**

Liam laughs at the reply. Is he serious?  _ Theo _ thought  _ he _ was the one out of his depth?? Has the man seen himself?

Before Liam can reply, Theo sends another text.

**From: Theo**

**Upon further reflection and several conversations with my cat (in which she judged me very harshly), I realized that I didn’t really care if you were out of my league, I had to give it a shot. But I also realized that if I just tried to talk to you in person, I’d probably panic again. So. Here we are.**

Liam grins down at his phone so hard his cheeks hurt. 

“Liam! What is he saying? Inquiring minds want to know!” Hayden’s voice startles Liam into looking up… at everyone. Seriously, where did they all come from?

“Don’t leave us hanging, little buddy,” Isaac says, wrapping his arms around Danny from behind and resting his chin on his shoulder.

“He, uh, apparently panicked yesterday and was afraid he’d panic again if he tried to talk to me in person? Which is ridiculous because have you seen that guy, he’s freaking perfect and I’m just-”

“LIAM!” Everyone shouts, exasperated.

“Right. So. He decided to use the cake idea, instead, I guess.”

“And?” Gwen prompted.

“And what?”

“Did he ask you out? Are you going on a date? Give us details, Liam.” Danny rolls his hand in a ‘continue’ motion.

“We haven’t gotten there yet. Jeez, guys.”

Liam looks down when his phone buzzes again.

**From: Theo**

**Was that too weird?**

**To: Theo**

**Not at all! Sorry. My coworkers are being busybodies** .

**From: Theo**

**Ah! Good to know.**

Liam makes a decision. He’s going to spare Theo any more anxiety.

**To: Theo**

**Hey, so, now that I have your number lol. Do you want to go to the parade with me?**

The answer is immediate.

**From: Theo**

**Yes!**

**I’d love to!**

Liam beams up at his coworkers, his friends. “He’s agreed to go to Pride with me.”

Everyone cheers.

***

On Wednesday, Liam texts Theo.

**To: Theo**

**What are you planning on wearing on Saturday?**

The answer comes quickly.

**From: Theo**

**Hadn't really thought about it. Probably one of my pride t-shirts. Why?**

**To: Theo**

**Ok so how about don't wear a shirt and I'll paint you.**

**From: Theo**

**Only if you don't wear one ;)**

**To: Theo**

**That can definitely be arranged ;);)**

Especially since Liam wasn't planning on wearing one anyway.

He and Theo have talked and texted every day since Liam had gotten his number. They'd met up and got ice cream Sunday night. 

Theo had let Liam kiss him. 

Liam smiles at the memory. He'd been so nervous when he'd asked, but Theo's shy but enthusiastic yes and made his heart soar. 

They've shared several kisses since then and he honestly can't wait to do it again. Theo's lips are soft and sweet and Liam doesn't think he'll ever get tired of tasting them.

Theo still visits in the afternoons to see what new creations they'd come up with. Liam's coworkers think it's adorable.

Liam secretly agrees.

***

Saturday morning, Liam rolls out of bed at 5 am, actually ready to get the day started. He powers through his shower and morning coffee and toast before climbing into his Bronco and heading to Mason's. 

As they've done every year since coming out to each other when they were 15, they paint something on each other's chests. 

On Mason, Liam paints a simple circle, filling it with the rainbow pride colors, including black and brown. When it's dry, he paints a black power fist in the middle. 

Mason hugs him as best he can while keeping his wet paint off of Liam. "You're the freaking best."

Mason's fiance, Corey, gets, as requested every year, the demisexual flag painted on one cheek and the rainbow flag painted on the other.

Liam undoes one buckle of his overalls and let's Mason work. He texts Theo about a meeting place so that Liam can paint him before they hit the parade. 

When Mason is finished, he looks into the mirror to see an anatomical heart filled in with bi colored stripes. "Mase! This is awesome!!"

"I'm glad you like it! What are you going to do with Theo?" He waggles his eyebrows at Liam. 

Liam plants a hand on his face and pushes him away. "I haven't decided yet. I'll know when I see him."

"And when will that be, exactly?" Corey asks.

"We're meeting him outside the bakery in half an hour. So, chop chop. Whatever you guys need to do, do it quick."

Liam turns back to the mirror and quickly paints three stripes -pink, purple, and blue- on his right cheek before packing up the paints and hustling his friends out the door.

He'd known, theoretically, that Theo shirtless would be a beautiful sight. But he was not prepared to actually see it. And it's not like the guy is totally bare from the waist up, he's wearing a bright orange jacket leaving his chest and abs bare. And… it's delicious. 

Holy shit.

Liam knows exactly what he wants to do. 

Before he gets out of Mason's car, he pours the paint into general lines on the paper plate they'd brought as an impromptu tray.

"Uh, Li? Whatcha doing?" Mason asks.

"Getting ready to paint Theo."

"You're going to mix the colors?"

"Maybe a little. It's all good."

When he's finished, he packs the paint back up. He opens the door and hollers at Theo to come over. Theo obliges, smiling.

"Move your jacket so I don't get paint on it, please." 

Theo opens his jacket wide and pulls it down off his shoulders as he walks toward the car. He grins and looks away as Mason and Corey wolf whistle at him. "Stop it." He blushes.

"Never, dude," Mason tells him. "That was hot as hell."

"Stop objectifying my boyfriend, Mase." Liam laughs.

At Theo's surprised face, Liam realized he made an error.  _ Oh, god. _

"Wait, you guys are boyfriends now?" Corey asks excitedly. "Liam, why didn't you tell us?"

"It's just really new, is all," Theo answers. "We were going to keep it to ourselves but it's fine. I'm quite proud to be Liam's boyfriend."

Liam's heart stumbles in his chest. New is an understatement. They hadn't ever discussed being a serious thing. And now Theo is claiming him in front of his friends.  _ This guy, I swear to god. _

Well, now it's Liam's turn. He flattens his hand in the paint and with his free hand, reaches up to pull Theo down for a kiss. More wolf whistles sound and Liam presses his paint-covered hand against Theo's sternum.

Theo hisses at the cold paint and steps back to peer down at the rainbow handprint between his chest and belly.

"There," Liam shrugs. "Now you're painted and everyone knows you're mine."

"Good." Theo grins and pulls him in for another kiss.


End file.
